Agritourism describes the activity of holiday-making in rural areas, specifically for those seeking a rural experience. Activities can include wine tours, outdoor sports, participation in the rural lifestyle and local community, enjoyment of the natural environment and the opportunity to enjoy truly locally produced food. Agritourism forms a significant proportion of the tourism sector, and its growth is set to continue in both developed and developing countries. The authors present the depth and variety of agritourism practiced around the world and cover all aspects of the economics and organization of agritourism. Topics discussed include agricultural economics, rural development, marketing, rural policy, different products and services available and the characteristics of agritourists.

Agritourism has emerged as a viable financial option for many farms and ranches. Since the publication of the first edition of Agritourism and Nature Tourism, the landscape has changed as counties and local governments incorporate agritourism into their local plans. This new edition builds on the concepts of the first, and adds updated information on regulations, risk management, and new marketing trends.

Rural regions are experiencing fundamental challenges to their ways of life and social fabric, as traditional land-based occupations are in decline and younger and better-educated rural residents migrate to cities for greater work, social and cultural opportunities. Rural tourism offers a possible solution to the problems associated with lost economic opportunities and population decline that accompany the waning of agriculture. Many governments and regional authorities have embraced rural tourism as an opportunity to bring new money into rural regions, stimulating growth, providing employment opportunities and thus beginning to halt rural decline. However, the possibilities of rural tourism to promote rural regeneration have been criticised for being over-stated and unrealistic. Rural tourism has frequently been found to under-deliver in terms of expected economic benefits and job creation, and may sometimes exacerbate local hierarchies and inequalities. This edited collection questions the contribution tourism can and does make to rural regions. Drawing on a range of geographically diverse, research-driven case studies, the book is thematically organised to explore a variety of issues relevant to rural tourism, from the perspectives of local communities, businesses, government/policy makers and the tourists themselves.

This book fills a gap in the growing academic discipline of food and agricultural tourism, offering the first multidisciplinary approach to food tourism and the role it plays in economic development, destination marketing, and gastronomic exploration. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the discipline by considering food tourism in connection with both cultural values and important issues in agriculture, food consumption and safety, and rural heritage and sustainability. The book is divided into four Parts. Part I defines the elements of food tourism and explains its relationship with sustainability. Part II provides an overview of rural development and demonstrates the impact of industrialization and globalization on eating habits. Part III focuses on food tourism studies and market segmentation techniques to help students understand customer needs regarding food tourism products. Finally, Part IV looks at the financial, policy, and legal requirements relating to food tourism development, providing hands-on tools for students entering food tourism businesses or industries. Complemented by a wide range of international case studies, key definitions, and study questions, Food and Agricultural Tourism is essential reading for students of tourism, geography, and economic development studies.

While the number of domestic leisure travelers has increased dramatically in reform-era China, the persistent gap between urban and rural living standards attests to ongoing social, economic, and political inequalities. The state has widely touted tourism for its potential to bring wealth and modernity to rural ethnic minority communities, but the policies underlying the development of tourism obscure some complicated realities. In tourism, after all, one person’s leisure is another person’s labor. A Landscape of Travel investigates the contested meanings and unintended consequences of tourism for those people whose lives and livelihoods are most at stake in China’s rural ethnic tourism industry: the residents of village destinations. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Ping’an (a Zhuang village in Guangxi) and Upper Jidao (a Miao village in Guizhou), Jenny Chio analyzes the myriad challenges and possibilities confronted by villagers who are called upon to do the work of tourism. She addresses the shifting significance of migration and rural mobility, the visual politics of tourist photography, and the effects of touristic desires for “exotic difference” on village social relations. In this way, Chio illuminates the contemporary regimes of labor and leisure and the changing imagination of what it means to be rural, ethnic, and modern in China today.

Provides a single reference that integrates community planning, business planning and tourism planning, from a global and Australian perspectives. It's an important text for the many courses that incorporate aspects of community tourism into their business, tourism, social science, and art programs. Beeton from La Trobe.

This book provides the latest conceptual thinking on, and case study exemplification of, rural tourism and sustainable business development from Europe, North America, Australasia, the Middle East and Japan in 19 concise, manageable chapters. The book is organised into distinct yet interrelated sections, and benefits from strong editorial input in terms of context setting and summary chapters. Rural Tourism and Sustainable Business represents a high quality text integrating the latest thinking on the evolving strategic roles of rural tourism and its role in sustainable business development. It provides readily accessible material drawn from a range of environmental and cultural contexts and draws attention to the nature and interrelationships between local and global issues in rural tourism and development.